Fight to Save KUSF Hits Next Phase: Lawyers, Fundraising, and City Hall

The battle to save college radio station KUSF has hit a new phase this week, as the group Save KUSF begins its work to fight the University of San Francisco station’s pending sale to Classical Public Radio Network (owned by University of Southern California and Public Radio Capital) through legal channels.

In order to hire lawyers, they have embarked on a fundraising campaign, with a short-term goal of raising $10,000. In the meantime, they have also been gathering support from politicians (the San Francisco Democratic Party passed an emergency resolution opposing the sale), University of San Francisco faculty members, cultural groups, musicians, fellow college and community radio stations, and even from people at University of Southern California.

Next week the San Francisco Board of Supervisors is expected to vote on a resolution opposing the sale of KUSF. This follows two weeks worth of rallies at City Hall, the most recent last Tuesday. The well-attended 1pm rally featured a short acoustic performance by former KUSF DJ and USF alum Ty Segall. KUSF Music Director Irwin Swirnoff also addressed the crowd and invited a number of KUSF supporters to speak on behalf of the station. Television crews, bloggers and journalists documented the event and even Frank Chu, San Francisco’s most famous picketer was on the scene, as he is at most major media events.

In addition to fundraising, the folks at Save KUSF are also focused right now on letter-writing campaigns to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, to the President of USF, to the USF Board of Trustees, and to USF Dean Michael Bloch (for inclusion in KUSF’s public file). Plans are also in the works for benefit shows and a letter-writing campaign to the FCC before the 30-day public comment window closes.

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Complete Radio Survivor coverage about the proposed sale of KUSF can be found here. I also wrote about my reaction to the KUSF shut down on Spinning Indie. My article chronicling my KUSF field trip 2 years ago is housed there too.

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About Jennifer Waits

Jennifer Waits is co-founder of Radio Survivor and is its College Radio and Culture Editor. She's fascinated by the culture of radio and has visited more than 100 radio stations in the United States and in Ireland. She is passionate about radio history and is a Research Associate on the Library of Congress' Radio Preservation Task Force. A long-time college radio DJ herself, she hosts a weekly show at KFJC 89.7FM in Los Altos Hills, California.